Children with Stars in their Veins (Chapter 33.1)

a/n: hey, thanks for checking out Starry Veins! This is the novel I wrote for Round V of LMS, and it's still a first draft! While I don't discourage any feedback, I prefer not to receive feedback on grammar! I'm not polishing this draft up yet, so I'm not as concerned about editing. I am, of course, open to all feedback, but I ask that you keep this in consideration! Thanks <3

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[Ember]

The Blessed Gates was much larger than the village, for one thing. For another, there was snow. In the middle of the Sun’s Reign no less. It was actually cold here.

If it was cold here now, what was it like during the cold months? What was is like during the Moon’s Vigil?

The inn that they had huddled into was warm, with an amber fire crackling in the hearth, and other patrons shuffling about. Though, with the new, furred pelt parkas that Enoch had bought them—with nary a word and a glare when Rowan tried to thank him—she was sure they could brave outside quite adeptly.

And she was bored in here. They had been on the road for— what, weeks? Who knew when they would get home. A uniform of grey masked people was chasing them. Rowan and Caddy got along like a set of hammer and tongs, and Cassius was both enamoured by their new friends and now had Artemesa to talk to.

At least Alanna was still on her side.

“Let’s go do something,” she said to Alanna, next to her at their booth.

Alanna eyed her. “Do what? Enoch and Danica are right here.” Indeed. Enoch was sitting in the corner of the booth drinking something the rest of them, save Danica and possibly Caddy, weren’t allowed to drink, and saying nothing. Danica was sitting opposite to Enoch, eating her dinner awkwardly as she was crammed next to Caddy, Hypatis, and Rowan, who were all engaged in some deep conversation or something. “They’ll not want us wandering off.”

Cassius, who had been smiling down at the table, presumably talking to Artemesa who they had to leave in their cart parked outside, glanced up. “Where are the two of you wandering off to?”

“Mischief,” she said, hoping it may coerce him.

He beamed. Gotcha. “Can I come?”

She gave him an exasperated look and watched him for a moment while she did so. Ever since he had washed his hair free of the dirt and grime and oil build-up, his hair looked less tawny-brown and more of a dirty silver-blond, not all that different from Isadora, actually, but he wasn’t blond. Maybe she’d just gotten used to how dark his nasty hair was.

Then she smiled at him, quirking one side of her mouth up, and slid out of the booth. Danica was too busy being uncomfortable and Enoch was too busy brooding to notice the three of them slipping away.

“This is probably a bad idea,” Alanna said, as they all stepped outside into the chill. “It’s warm inside.”

“You love the cold,” Ember pointed out. “And the snow.”

Alanna glanced down at where her boots were crunching into the snow, and then gave Ember a stink eye. Ember grinned.

“Come on! I saw some merchant’s stalls on the way in!” she said, and set off to lead them back towards where they had come in.

She doubted there would be merchants there now. There were people still milling about, but the sun had already vanished on the horizon, and the buildings were all shrouded in the haze of a grey dusk. The snow glittered like diamonds until lantern light, blue shadows cast in the dark spaces from the magefire. Magefire. In the village, at the Citadel, it was fire fire, but here, there was magefire. At least, the torches that lined the main walkway were. Most others, the lanterns that hung outside residence’s and establishments, were normal fire. But still.

It wasn’t cold like it was back home during Moon’s Vigil. She hadn’t brought her parka with her, and she was all right. There was a chill that bit her exposed skin, but she could shrug it off.

Alanna and Cassius both looked not the least bit phased by the cold. They never had been.

“Stormy would hate it here,” she said. “Do you remember how he wraps himself in blankets—”

“Drinks only hot tea or cocoa—” Alanna smiled as she spoke.

“Wears like, ten layers even when he goes out to train or ride—”

“Pulls the chairs right in front of the fireplace to read.”

She turned, as did Alanna, to stare at Cassius. He wrinkled his nose at their questioning looks.

“What?”

She shrugged. “I just didn’t know you noticed that about Mishal. Because that’s who we’re talking about. You haven’t said anything mean yet, forgive my confusion.”

He squinted at her. “I can notice things about Mishal and still know he’s the worst.” He sniffed. “Know your enemy, even better than your friends, right?”

“I don’t think that’s a thing at all,” Alanna said.

For the first time since Mishal and Isadora left, Alanna didn’t look so morose about the mention of them. There was a smile curling at her lips, and her eyes didn’t look so dark. Maybe the snow really was magic.

They got to the market stalls to find them cleared out. Only a few people passed, travelling through the main thoroughfare. All the stalls were locked up and stripped of wares, not even a decorative tablecloth left out.

“There’s nothing here,” Cassius pointed out. He was frowning as he stopped at one of the empty market stalls. “How are we supposed to do anything fun with nothing?”

Ember darted behind one of the market stalls, but found Cassius was right. There wasn’t even anything hidden on the back shelves underneath the displays. “There were more people before. I even saw a cool hammer.” She flopped forward onto the top of the display. Cassius and Alanna hovered on the other side, like they were about to purchase something from her. Except there was nothing.

She glanced at Alanna, who was shifting back on forth on her feet to make the snow crackle. She looked happy, cleaned off from their venture and wearing fresh clothes Danica had bought her when they had arrived. Her cheeks were flushed just so, and her eyes gleamed.

Before, Ember would have chalked it up to the snow, and Alanna’s childlike wonder at it. Now, she wasn’t so sure that it wasn’t in her blood to. This was Alanna’s real home. This was where she had come from. Did she love the snow because it was beautiful, or did she love the snow because this was where she had been born? They were only several miles away now from Glacier’s Keep. This was where Alanna had come from.

Would she be as happy as Alanna was if she went to Chromium?

It seemed ridiculous. They had to make their way home now. Her moms were waiting for her, probably worried sick about her. Would the village have survived? Maybe they had escaped to the village.

Alanna met her gaze, her eyes piercing in the low light. “Em?”

Before she could respond, Cassius cleared his throat, quietly. “I think those Grey Masks followed up.”

She stood up. Cassius was nodding over to where a group of three men were bunched together, talking amongst themselves. There were wearing dark clothing, and jackets that looked as newly bought as theirs did. She couldn’t see any grey masks around their necks. “Are you sure?”

Cassius’ face was pale, but he nodded resolutely. “I recognise one of them, from the night of the attack.”

She narrowed her eyes, at the same time one of them glanced in her direction. For a moment, everything froze.

One of them cursed, or she thought they did, it was muffled and faraway. The three of them turned and began to approach.

“Run!” she shouted at the others and hopped up onto the display table. Cassius helped pull her down in the same motion, and then they turned and took off with Alanna just ahead of them.

She heard the boots crunching heavily in the snow behind her. She pushed herself, to go faster and harder, just like Mishal had always told her. He was still always faster than her, but could almost keep up with him. Before, anyway.

But it was short-lived. A weight crashed into her and her legs were gone beneath her. She heard grunting, a yelp of pain, and the darkness that momentarily enveloped her as something flew over her receded. She was lying on the ground, shoulder throbbing. She spat out gritty snow.

And then someone was grabbing her wrist. She yanked back, but their grip was too strong. Her attacker was a man with a cropped beard and dark hair. In the hand not gripping her arm, he was pulling out rope. “Don’t squirm.”

She spat at him and used the weight of his grip to pull her legs from behind her. She kicked him, hard, in the knee. His grip slackened a moment and she tugged away. She scrambled to her feet.

But then a second pair of hands caught her by the shoulders. She shouted, and kicked, but whoever was holding her didn’t loosen their grip. An arm wrapped around her shoulders.

She glanced up to check her surroundings. The third assailant was tying Alanna up as she wriggled and tried to get free.

Once again, she tried to pull herself free, tried to position herself so she could bite her attacker. The arm pulled tighter against her chest.

Cassius leapt out from, well, somewhere, with his dagger drawn. But as he lunged forward towards the man in front of her, who had first grabbed her, his step faltered, and he froze. He glanced down at the dagger, blood draining from his face.

The man turned at the noise and grabbed for Cassius. Cassius didn’t even attempt to yank away. He blinked in surprise as his dagger was wretched from his grip and tossed into the snow beside him. “No—”

She could burn them. If she said the word, she could set them ablaze. But… but she didn’t want to. It wasn’t an instinct this time. It wasn’t at her fingertips. She sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. She didn’t need magic, and moreover, even if she did, she didn’t want to lose herself in the fire again.

The person holding Alanna cried out suddenly, and Ember caught a glimpse of blood flecking the snow as Alanna slipped free of her attacker’s grasp and began to run.

Alanna only ran about fifteen feet before stopping. She stopped, and turned, holding the knife Ember had made for her in her hand. Blood dripped from it. Standing behind her was Enoch, Danica, Rowan, Cadelia, and Hypatis.

“If you’re smart,” Enoch said, as he drew his blade. “You know you’re outnumbered.”

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1,770